2009-2010 Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Application Thread

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alibai3ah said:
Thanks for the input. My interview is coming up soon, is there anything you would recommend flip26? I'm a pretty outgoing guy, but I'm more anxious about the healthcare and ethics questions....
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The following should apply to interviews at any school:

Just look over lists of the kinds of questions that are commonly asked, and have a basic idea of how to answer - don't over rehearse or memorize answers, but do have an idea. For instance, everyone should have a short, confident answer to the "why medicine" and "why our school" questions...

Review your AMCAS, your PS, and your secondary - read it and look for things that an interviewer who runs through it once might pick up on - be prepared to talk with confidence and energy about anything in your app, especially your strong points.

Then pick up on the interviewer's cues that might allow you to move the convo away from the set questions and into comfortable territory talking about some research, or some EC, or something in your background that he/she found compelling.

Here I am talking like a know-it-all after a grand total of one med school interview, but it really went as well as I could have wished. I am sure that I will encounter interviews that I don't feel as good about, but that is why we should all apply to lots of schools and attend as many interviews as we can.

Good luck.
 
flip26 said:
The following should apply to interviews at any school:

Just look over lists of the kinds of questions that are commonly asked, and have a basic idea of how to answer - don't over rehearse or memorize answers, but do have an idea. For instance, everyone should have a short, confident answer to the "why medicine" and "why our school" questions...

Review your AMCAS, your PS, and your secondary - read it and look for things that an interviewer who runs through it once might pick up on - be prepared to talk with confidence and energy about anything in your app, especially your strong points.

Then pick up on the interviewer's cues that might allow you to move the convo away from the set questions and into comfortable territory talking about some research, or some EC, or something in your background that he/she found compelling.

Here I am talking like a know-it-all after a grand total of one med school interview, but it really went as well as I could have wished. I am sure that I will encounter interviews that I don't feel as good about, but that is why we should all apply to lots of schools and attend as many interviews as we can.

Good luck.
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I agree with these suggestions. It's been a little while since I interviewed (and holy cow those 3 years went by quickly) but these are good general prep for any interview.
 
Interview invite just now!
The dates sure filled up fast, I guess. The closest one is Oct 20th and everything else is November and on. Looking like Oct 20th, I guess.

EDIT: the October dates are now gone.
 
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I'm not sure why, but this school has me bothered because they are the only ones that have like five different statuses, so I assume it would be easy to know where you would fit in the scale immediatley. yet they are taking forever with my application while i was complete before others but i guess it has to do with your stats maybe. Anyway, i emailed them asking about a letter of rec issue and my status and the lady replied saying that the subcommittee has reviewed your file, but it is now waiting to be checked out for file review, which can take anywhere from a week to over a month. Don't know what that means, but sounds like a strange system.
 
Nafis64 said:
I'm not sure why, but this school has me bothered because they are the only ones that have like five different statuses, so I assume it would be easy to know where you would fit in the scale immediatley. yet they are taking forever with my application while i was complete before others but i guess it has to do with your stats maybe. Anyway, i emailed them asking about a letter of rec issue and my status and the lady replied saying that the subcommittee has reviewed your file, but it is now waiting to be checked out for file review, which can take anywhere from a week to over a month. Don't know what that means, but sounds like a strange system.
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Yeah I totally get that. I've been complete since 7/27 and have nothing on my status tab except it saying that I am complete...

Is that happening to anyone else?
 
Interview invite! MD/PhD, OOS😀

It seems that there are still dates in early october (the earliest date I got was oct. 5).

Can anyone give me some advice on how to prepare for interviews? (this will be my first one). And does anyone know what the interview format will be? Like is there a pre-interview essay I have to write or anything?

Lastly, does VCU have student hosts?

:luck:to everyone.

[edit] my status on the vcu page still shows "further consideration" aka #3..so I guess status updates for MD/PhD is slightly different?
 
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nonamesleft said:
Interview invite! MD/PhD, OOS😀

It seems that there are still dates in early october (the earliest date I got was oct. 5).

Can anyone give me some advice on how to prepare for interviews? (this will be my first one). And does anyone know what the interview format will be? Like is there a pre-interview essay I have to write or anything?

Lastly, does VCU have student hosts?

:luck:to everyone.

[edit] my status on the vcu page still shows "further consideration" aka #3..so I guess status updates for MD/PhD is slightly different?
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Glad to know they can call people from #3 🙂
 
Premed321 said:
How long did it take to change from a #3 to #4 status?
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I went from complete (~08/15) to under review (~08/17) to complete (08/18) to under review (which I assumed was #4) (08/19) to #3 (09/08) to a emailed interview invite today (09/11)...on my status page, it still says #3 though..

In retrospect, I don't think I ever actually ended up with specifically a #4 status. I think the first review was the med school review, and the second one was the research committee review.
 
Just got sub-committee update today 🙁. Complete last month. Does anybody ever come out of this status update and into an interview invite? :scared:
 
I'm a little confused with all the different options we can receive. When I first log in, I am taken to screen that says "Your M.D. file is now complete. The Admissions Committee will now do a comprehensive review of your application."

I've seen that message for a while now. Until yesterday I could also click on a button at the top and it would show the date I was complete and show when my letters of rec were uploaded, but now that button is no longer available. I only have 'Instructions/Forms' 'Print Application' and 'Withdraw Application.'

Has anyone else experienced this?
 
metallica81788 said:
OK, so after browsing last year's thread, it seems there are 5 stati.
1. very interested
2. may be able to grant interview
3. would like to further review your file
4. reservations about granting interview/ goes to sub-committee
5. rejected
This is all based on my info from reading last year's thread, so don't shoot the messenger.
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Just got the #3 yesterday.. gah.
 
I have gotten the #3 status since the beginning of August and still no interview offer. It seems to me that #3 is just the typical hold status, no difference from other school; correct me if i am wrong.
 
bowlin123 said:
I have gotten the #3 status since the beginning of August and still no interview offer. It seems to me that #3 is just the typical hold status, no difference from other school; correct me if i am wrong.
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I had the same situation - #3 since beginning of August, and just got an invite, so don't lose hope!
 
anyone else not recieve any status updates since the initial "we will now do a comprehensive review..." thing? been complete for >1 month without anything its weird. decent stats oos
 
MDhereicome said:
anyone else not recieve any status updates since the initial "we will now do a comprehensive review..." thing? been complete for >1 month without anything its weird. decent stats oos
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No status updates for me, either😕
 
Anyone know the nuymber that interview vs. the number accepted?
 
got #2, "may" message today. complete 7/31! I called the school in middle of august to find out what's happening. apparently my file was pushed to the sub-committee and then now I got this..so don't lose hope people whose files went to sub-committee 🙂 hoping for an interview...i would LOVE to attend VCU.
 
just got rejected today. 🙁

...crossing my fingers for the other schools.

good luck people.
 
LeavingThisLab said:
I feel so much better! Thanks! And good luck in your interview!!
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I was a #3 status applicant for awhile too... and i just got an interview invite~!! 😀

complete 7/23
hold 8/21
interview invite 9/14

good luck to everyone!!!!!!
 
RHC1987 said:
I was a #3 status applicant for awhile too... and i just got an interview invite~!! 😀

complete 7/23
hold 8/21
interview invite 9/14

good luck to everyone!!!!!!
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What months are you able to schedule your interview in now?

Congrats, BTW!!!
 
Has anyone here (or last year for that matter) gotten out of the #4 status to a higher status and then a subsequent interview? Or should I regard this #4 as a rejection?
 
Chiron3x said:
Has anyone here (or last year for that matter) gotten out of the #4 status to a higher status and then a subsequent interview? Or should I regard this #4 as a rejection?
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i think it could change to another number and then interview but i haven't heard of anyone going directly from #4 to interview! hang in there it might take a while but its still not a rejection! good luck :luck:
 
reidmike said:
Do you or anyone else have the link for the U.S. News site that shows stats like this for all schools?
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I had to pay like $15 for a year "subscription" so my friends and I could view all the stats (they're going to misc grad schools also) for all the schools.
 
To encourage those #3s out there.. got an interview invite yesterday!
 
Sooo- I know this is really really late

But are there any VCU med students on this thread that would be willing to house me for Sept 21?

My previous place fell through and now I'm a little frazzled!
 
Bah...I've had the "may" message since 8/27 but it feels like it has been FOREVER! No other comments, just wanted to drop in and say hi 😀 and good luck to those with interviews!
 
bebop224 said:
Bah...I've had the "may" message since 8/27 but it feels like it has been FOREVER! No other comments, just wanted to drop in and say hi 😀 and good luck to those with interviews!
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I've also had the MAY message for a few weeks now. ive noticed on this thread that it seems that more 3s are getting interviews than 2s, so im starting to wonder which one is truly higher. have any 2s received interviews recently? good luck everyone!
 
CantWinThemAll said:
I've also had the MAY message for a few weeks now. ive noticed on this thread that it seems that more 3s are getting interviews than 2s, so im starting to wonder which one is truly higher. have any 2s received interviews recently? good luck everyone!
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i was a may and got an invite a couple weeks ago...it seems like most of us that had that message got interviews almost exactly a month after getting the message so hang on another few weeks and im sure youll hear good news!🙂
 
CantWinThemAll said:
I've also had the MAY message for a few weeks now. ive noticed on this thread that it seems that more 3s are getting interviews than 2s, so im starting to wonder which one is truly higher. have any 2s received interviews recently? good luck everyone!
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I was a MAY message holder for 3 weeks before an interview invite. I'm thinking that most people with this message assume they'll get an interview, so they don't make comments on SDN. It's more of a story to tell if the #3 message gets invited shortly after the status update - or so it would seem.
 
All I can say after visiting this school is I LOVE IT! The curriculum, the students, the faculty, the hospital, and everything were amazing! My interview did ask me questions from a list that he had...I'm guessing the committee provide the interviewers with that list. A lot of interesting ethical and hypothetical questions, but all in all, it was still conversational and chilled. I interviewed with a psychiatrist, so that was a little intimidating.
 
Honestly, I'm losing hope of ever getting an interview invite from this school. I was complete since 8/6/09. No change in status since being complete. I do love this school a lot.
 
Kneige said:
Honestly, I'm losing hope of ever getting an interview invite from this school. I was complete since 8/6/09. No change in status since being complete. I do love this school a lot.
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I've been complete since 7/30 and no changes neither...
 
Ilovewater said:
All I can say after visiting this school is I LOVE IT! The curriculum, the students, the faculty, the hospital, and everything were amazing! My interview did ask me questions from a list that he had...I'm guessing the committee provide the interviewers with that list. A lot of interesting ethical and hypothetical questions, but all in all, it was still conversational and chilled. I interviewed with a psychiatrist, so that was a little intimidating.
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Glad you liked it. Let me know if you have any questions. My schedule is a bit crazy this year but I check in periodically.
 
Just got the #3 status today. I'm out of state (bombed the PS portion of the MCAT though everything else is good) and they didn't even send me a secondary until about a month ago (mid August) - they were kind of pulling the, let's think about this person... okay, we'll send you a secondary. I just submitted this past Friday (September 11) and they've already updated my status today (September 15) to #3. So, I guess I'm kind of happy with that. I was really scared I was going to get one of those immediate denials. It's also better than #4, so let's just hope I get an interview eventually! (AKA - this year please)
 
to those who have already interviewed:
What types of questions were you asked? Was it mostly based on your primary app or was it more ethics/healthcare issues?
Also, does VCU have student hosts? If not, where did everyone stay?
 
Where is everyone finding the numbered statuses? Is it under the "File Status" page? Mine only says "complete." I guess I have more waiting to do.
 
nonamesleft said:
to those who have already interviewed:
What types of questions were you asked? Was it mostly based on your primary app or was it more ethics/healthcare issues?
Also, does VCU have student hosts? If not, where did everyone stay?
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My interviewer asked a few ethic questions...not related to health care issues. He also asked a lot of hypothetical questions, like if this happens, how would you respond.

And VCU does have student host. I'm glad I stayed with one because I learned so much more details about the school that I wouldn't learn from anywhere else.
 
Ilovewater said:
My interviewer asked a few ethic questions...not related to health care issues. He also asked a lot of hypothetical questions, like if this happens, how would you respond.

And VCU does have student host. I'm glad I stayed with one because I learned so much more details about the school that I wouldn't learn from anywhere else.
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Is there a list of student host contact information somewhere? or do I need to email the school to get a copy? Also, for my interview, I need to stay there two nights. Are student hosts only one night stays?
Thanks in advance! (and for answering my previous question)
 
utah3219 said:
Dang I really wish I knew what status they originally had me at. It was only 12 days between submitting and receiving my interview invite.

Did anyone here go from secondary submission, #2 status, and interview within a few weeks?
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r u in state? you probably went straight to interview or had the #1 very interested status 😉

either way congrats 🙂
 
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